Abrading machine



Jan. 5, 1943.

1.. IMELMANN ABRADING MACHINE Filed May 7, 1941 5 Sheets-Sheet l ZN kwwJan. 5, 1943. I H. L. IMELMANN 2,307,407

' ABRADING MACHINE I Filed May '7, 1941 s sheets-shed 2 IN VENTOR.

I Wed/glam I Jan. 5, 1943. NN 1 2,307,407

' ABRADING MACHINE Filed Ma 7, '1941 s sheeis-speet a INVENTOR- PatentedJan. 5, 1943 2,307,407 ABRADING MACHINE Henry Louis Imelmann Chicago,

Permo Products Corporation,

corporation of- Illinois 7 Application May 7, 1941, Serial No. 392,194

7 Claims. (c1. 51-497) This invention relates in general to abrading lmachines and more particularly to an automatic machine for accuratelyabrading the ends of a plurality of small bodies, such as phonographneedles, writing pen points and the like.

My new machine represents improvements in my pending United Statespatent application Serial No. 385,396, whereby the principles outlinedin the said patent application are applied to a machine for automaticalland uniformly shaping a plurality of pointed bodies at one time withgreat rapidity and without human aid.

Prior to this invention the ends of microscopic bodies were eithershaped by laborious han d operations or quantities of the bodies weretumbled in contact with abrasives. These methods were inaccurate andentirely dependent upon the human element, whereas, incontradistinction, in the present invention the ends of small bodies areautomatically shaped with great accuracy,

uniformity and rapidity.

-A principal object of the invention resides in the provision ofapparatus for automatically processing the ends of a plurality of bodiesin a predetermined shape by controlling their movement while under theattack of rotating abrading vanes, whereby microscopic sphericalsurfaces may be applied to the bodies having radii accurately formed assmall as -five ten-thousandths of an inch.

Another object of the invention is the provision of means wherebyvarious shapes are formed upon the ends of a, plurality of bodiesthrough controlling the relative movement between the bodies and theabrading means.

A further object of the invention is the provision of apparatus forshaping the ends of successive groups of bodies into various formsdesired with accurate uniformity by presenting the successive groups tonew unused surfaces of the abrading means.

A further object of the invention is the provision of automaticallycontrolled means where by successive groups "of bodies may be abradedsubstantially uniformly by governing the time each. said group of bodiesis presented to the attack of the abrading vanes.

With these and other objects in view theinvention consists of the novelcombination and arrangement of elements, one embodiment of which isillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is an'enlarged end elevation of the machine. a

v Fig. 2' is a plan view of the machine.

111., assignor tov Chicago, 111., a

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the machine.

Fig. 4-is a sectional view taken through section line a-a, Fig. 2. Fig.5 is a bottom View of the driving mechanism taken through section lineb-b, Fig. 3.

Fig.6 is a fragmentary view of a pointed body showing the original shapeof the point in dotted lines and the shape following abrading in fulllines.

- Referring to the plan view, Fig. 2, the various components of themachine are secured to a base I. An-abrading-shaft 2 -isrotatably-mounted upon supports 3 and 4. carrying suitable bearings andadapted to be driven by the pulley 5 integral .with the shaft. A.plurality of flexible abrading vanes. 6 are secured to andabout shaft 2in groups, in spaced relation with each other along the length of theshaft. A preferred, arrangement of one group of abrading vanes is shownin Fig. 4. The surface 6s of each vane is coatedwithabrading-materialsuch as emery, carborundumior-the like. I

A spindle carriage], Fig. 2, has integrally affixed to one end thereof ashaft .8 which is rotatably retained-insupport 9 aflixed to base I. Theouter end of the shaft 8 carries a threaded portion 10- which will behereinafter. described. The carriagef! is. .alsosupported at itsopposite endby a shaft ll integral with the carriage and rotatablycarried 'by support 12. A free pulley 13, carried onv shaft H, isretained in its proper operatingposition by collar M. A miter gear l5,also free upon shaft I l,,is secured to the pulley l3 byscrew l6. .A.crank arm. I! is secured to the extreme outer end of shaft H andadapted to oscillate the shaft about its axis in a manner to be.hereinafter described. A plurality of spindles I8 are rotatably retainedin suitable bearings in the. spindle carriage 1 through the center lineand at right angles to the shafts 8 and I. Conventional chucks orcollets I9 are secured to theends of the spindles l8 for holding thearticles to be abraded.

Since the abrading action of certain articles insome cases requiresvcomplete rotation of the spindles and other articles require oscillationof the spindles, two .methods for supplying their movement will bedescribed. 1

Referring to Fig. 4, the method for mounting and .driving one of thespindles I8 is shown in the cross-sectional view taken through line a-a,Fig. 2-. Thespindle H3, carrying its collet H! at one end, is rotatablymounted in spindle carriage 1 through bearings'in' the carriage crossmembers'flland 2i. Each-spindle is retained by collar 22 and the hub ofthe gear 23, the latter being secured to the end of the spindle l8opposite the collet. The gears 23 are secured to those spindles in whichit is desired to apply complete rotation, whereas a lever 24, shown inFig. 3, is secured to those spindles requiring oscillating movement. Thegears 23, Fig. 2, are the same size, mated with each other, and adaptedto be driven by a master gear 25, which in turn is driven by the mitergear 26 mating with gear 15.

Fig. 3 shows the relation of the gear 25 and the gears 23, which lattergears are used to rotate certain spindles I8. Fig. 3 also shows thecrank levers 24 which are secured to the. spindleslB requiringoscillation. A link 21. is.- pivotally secured to the outer end of eachlever 24 for moving all of the levers in unison. A connecting rod 28 ispivotally secured to one of the levers; 24' by adjustable stud 29 and isslotted to provide a dwell period for the levers at the extreme ends oftheir oscillating movements. The opposite. end of the connectingrod ispivotally" securedto gear 25 at crank stud 30. Thus, it apparent thatwhen gear 25 is rotated the three gears 23 will rotate in unison and atthe same time theconnecting rod 28 will oscillate the stud 29 and causethe levers 24 to oscillate by'virtue of the link 21.

The spindle carriage 1 is adjustable along the axis of shafts 8 and IIby means of a yoke 3| secured to the base 1 through which the threadedend 19 of the shaft 8' is freeto move. An adjusting nut 32, threadeduponthe shaft 8, is positioned between the supports foradjusting thelongitudinal position of the spindle carriage 1. Thus, since the shafts8 and It are free to move along their principal axis, adjustment of nut32 against one. of the upright members of the yoke 3| will move thecarriage 1 carrying the spindles l8 longitudinally along the axis ofshafts B and H.

The driving motor 33, shown in Figs. 3 and 5, has two drive pulleys 34and 35 integrally mounted together and freely mounted on the motor shaft36. The pulleys are retained in their proper positions by shoulder screw62, which engages a slot (not. shown) in the motor shaft. The pulleys 34and 35 are arranged to rotate drive pulleys l3 and through the medium ofbelts 31 and 38 respectively, better shown in Fig. 1. belt 33, Fig. 1,is shown in its position for driving the pulley 5 and thence theabrading shaft 2. The belt 31 is also shown in position for drivingpulley 13,. which in turn drives the miter gear [5, shown in Fig. 2',for rotating and oscillating the spindles 18. A reduction. gear 39 andclutch jaw 41 are integral with pulley 34 and also freely mounted onshaft 48. A mating clutch member 49 is slidably keyed to shaft. 48 andis provided with a channel for the control lever yoke 50.

A cam shaft 41, Fig. 5, is rotatably retained in suitable supports 42and 43, which in turn are secured to the under side, of base I, alsoshown in Fig. 3. A cam shaft-drive gear 40 is secured to shaft 41 and ismated with gear 39 and adapted to be driven thereby; Spindle control cam44 is secured to the. outer end of shaft 4! for the purpose ofcontrolling the. action of the spindles, to be hereinafter described.

Clutch lever 46 is pivotally mounted at 54, shown in Figs. 1 and 5, andterminates in yoke 50 which is operatively retainedin the channel of theclutch member 49'. A spring 53, retained about the pivot screw 54normallyurges the clutch member 49 out of engagement with its matingmember 41. A projection 5| on lever 46 is The adapted to rest againstthe inside plane surface of stop cam 45 and normally holds the clutchmember 49 into engagement with its mating member 41. The extension 56 ofthe lever 46 is intended as a handle for the convenience of manualoperation.

It is apparent that when the cam 45 is rotated to a point where theprojection 5| on lever 46 coincides with the recess 52 in the cam, thelever 46, under the influence of spring 53, will move the clutch member49 out of engagement with its mating member 41 and the pulleys 34, 35and the gear 39 from engagement with the power supplied by shaft 48,thus stopping the rotation of shaft 41' and the components carriedthereby.

Fig. 1 shows the means employed for moving the groups of spindles intoand out of contact with the abrading vanes 6 through the medium oi arocker 51 pivotally mounted on support 58 secured to the base I. Aroller 59 is rotatably mounted to the lower end of rocker 51 and adaptedto engage the outer surface of the spindle control cam- 44. The upperslotted end of rocker 51' is loosely fitted to crank pin 6| carried bycrank arm I 1. A spring 60, one end of which is attached to rocker 51and its opposite end secured to the base I, normally urges the roller 59into close contact with the cam 44.

It is apparent that when the cam 44 is rotated the rocker 51 will bedisplaced in accordance with the contour of the cam, which contour isadapted to provide proper predeteminedmovement of the spindles 18 intheir relationto the abrading vanes 6. The cam is also provided with anelongated projection for moving the spindles I8 to the extreme outwardposition for loading. shown in dotted lines, Fig. l. The extremeopposite inward position of the spindles l8 and as.- sociatedelements isshown in full lines.

In operation and assuming that the motor is functioning, the clutchmembers 41 and 49' are disengaged and the spindles l8 are in thepositions shown in dotted lines, Fig. 1, whereby the bodies to beabraded may be inserted and secured in the collets 19, Fig. 2. The firstthree collets, viewed from the left, are used to retain bodies requiringoscillating motion for shaping and the three right-hand collets are usedto retain. bodies requiring rotating motion.

Upon engaging the clutch members 41 and 49 by means of manual lateralmovement of the end 56 of lever 46, the drive shaft 4! will rotate,which in turn will drive the cam 44 and cause the spindle carriage 1 tomove the spindles into the paths of the abrading vanes. This movementwill continue as proportioned by the movement of the cam until thebodies reach the lower end of their position in relation to the abradingvanes, where they will dwell for a period again determined by the shapeof the cam until they begin their return movement receding from the pathof the abrading vanes.

It is'obvious that the engagement of the clutch members 41 and 49 willalso rotate the pulleys 5 and 13, which will drive the abrading vanes 6in the direction shown by arrow, Fig. 1, and operate th spindles 18 asheretofore described.

Since the three left-hand spindles shown in Fig. 2 will oscillate andthe three right-hand spindles will rotate, it is apparent that theabrading action of the vanes striking the ends of the pointed bodieswill abrade their respective surfaces in accordance with a predeterminedshape.

It is to be noted that the relative movement of the spindles and theabrading vanes will cause 2,307,407 each of the abrading vanes to flexwhile in con-' tact with the bodies, thus instantaneous points ofsuccessive abrading attacks of individual vanes will describe apredetermined arcuate path. When the spindles reach their extreme upperposition the machine will come to rest by virtue of the projection onlever 46 falling into the recess 52 of the .stop cam 45, which willautomatically disengage the clutch member 49 from its mating member 41and thus arrest the motion of the entire machine.

A complet cycle of the machine, as previously described, is usuallysufiicient to properly abrade a complete group of bodies retained in thecollets l9, and upon insertion of a subsequent group of bodiesuniformity of abrading is accomplished by rotating the nut 32, shown inFig. 2, thereby moving the entire group of spindles to a new lateralposition with respect to the abrading vanes, thus providing a new unusedsurface on the abrading vanes for contact with the bodies. Consequentlyit is possible to hold precise uniformity in successive abradingoperations upon successive groups of bodies.

Fig. 6 is a typical illustration of a fragmentary view of one of thebodies 63 wherein the dotted line 64 indicates the shape of the bodyprior to abrading.

For succeeding operations it is merely necessary to load the machinewith a new group of bodies and move the lever 46 to re-engage the clutchmembers 41 and 49, whereby the machine will automatically re-cycle inaccordance with the operation previously described.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In an abrading machine for abrading the ends of small bodies, arotatable abrading member adapted to be rotated about a fixed axis, aplurality of abrading means secured in spaced relation to the saidmember along its axis, said abrading means comprising a plurality offlexible abrading vanes extending from said member in a general lateraldirection from the direction of movement of said vanes and in radialspaced relation, said vanes being mounted on said member in spacedrelation, the distance between said vanes being-such that they will notcontact each other during the abrading action, a rotatably mountedspindle carriage positioned adjacent to said member with its axis ofrotation parallel and at a fixed distance from the axis of the abradingmember, a plurality of rotatable spindles secured on said carriageparallel to each other and corresponding in number to the said abradingmeans, each said spindle having its axis of rotation at substantiallyright angles to the axis of said carriage, each said spindle terminatingat one end in a holder for said bodies, each said holder fac ing acorresponding abrading means and adapted to describe an'arcsubstantially at right angles to the axis of said abrading member whenthe said carriage is rotated, driven means for simultaneouslyoscillating said carriage about its axis in a plane substantiallyperpendicular to the fiat surfaces of said vanes and rotating saidspindles,

including means for simultaneously driving said abrading member and saiddriven means whereby each said body held in said holders will besimultaneously rotated and oscillated in the path of the said vanes whenthe said machine is driven by the said driving means to abrade the endsof said bodies to a predetermined shape.

2. In an abrading machine for abrading the ends of small bodies, arotatable abrading member adapted to be rotated about a fixed axis, a

pluralityof abrading means secured in spaced relation to the said memberalong its axis, said abrading means comprising a plurality of flexibleabrading vanes extending from said member in a general lateral directionfrom the direction of movement of said vanesv and in'radial spacedrelation, said vanes being mounted on said member in'spaced relation,the distance between said vanes being such that they will not contacteach other during the abrading action, a rotatably mounted spindlecarriage positioned adjacent to said member with its axis of rotationparallel and at a fixed distance from the axis of the abrading member, aplurality of rotatable spindles secured on said carriage parallel toeach other and corresponding in number to the said abrading means, eachsaid spindle'having its axis of rotation at substantially right anglesto the axis of said carriage, each said spindle terminating at one endin a holder for said bodies, each said holder facing a'correspondingabrading means and adapted to describe an are substantially at rightangles to the axis of said abrading member when the said carriage isrotated, driven means for simultaneously oscillating said carriage aboutits axis in a plane substantially perpendicular to the fiat surfaces ofsaid vanes and oscillating said spindles, including means forsimultaneously driving said abrading member and said driven meanswhereby each said'body held in said holders will be simultaneouslyrotated and oscillated in a path of the'said vanes when the said machineis driven by the said driving means to abrade the ends of said bodies toa predetermined shape.

3. In an abrading machine for abrading the ends of small bodies, arotatable abrading member adapted to be rotated about a fixed axis, aplurality'of abrading means secured in spaced relation to the saidmember along its axis, said abrading means comprising a plurality offlexible abrading vanes extending from said member in a general lateraldirection from the direction of movement of said vanes and in radialspaced relation, said vanes being mounted on said member in spacedrelation, the distance between said vanes being such that they will notcontact each other during the abrading action, a rotatably mountedspindle carriage positioned adjacent to said member with its axis ofrotation parallel and at a fixed distance from the axis of the abradingmember, a manual adjustment means aflixed to said carriage for movingsaid carriage predetermined distances along its axis, a plurality ofrotatable spindles secured on said carriage parallel to each other andcorresponding in number to the said abrading means, each said spindlehaving its axis of rotation at substantially right angles to the axis ofsaid carriage, each said spindle terminating at one end in a holder forsaid bodies, each said holder facing a corresponding abrading means andadapted to describean arc substantially at right angles to the axis ofsaid abrading member when the said carriage is rotated, driven means forsimultaneously oscillating said carriage about its axis in a planesubstantially perpendicular to the flat surfaces of said vanes androtating said spindles, including means for simultaneously driving saidabrading member and said driven means whereby each said body held insaid holders will be simultaneously rotated and oscillated in the pathof the said vanes when the said machine is driven and the said bodiesmanually moved longitudinally with respect to the axis of rotation ofsaid abrading member, to. abrade the ends of said bodies to apredetermined shape.

4. The combination in an abrading machine for abrading the ends of smallbodies, a rotatable abrading member adapted to be rotatedv about a fixedaxis, said member having secured thereto a plurality of flexibleabrading vanes extending from said member in a general lateral directionfrom the direction of movement of said vanes and in radially spacedrelation, said vanes being mounted on said member in spaced relation,the distance between said vanes being such that they will not contacteach other during the abrading action, an axially rotatable holder iorholding said bodies, a rocking support for said holder from which thesaid holder projects at right angles with respect to the axis of therotatable abrading member and into the path of movement of said vanes,including driving means for rotating said holder about its axisoscillating said rocking support in a plane substantially perpendicularto the flat surfaces of said vanes and rotating said abrading means,whereby the end surfaces of the said body held in said holder will besuccessively attacked by the said vanes to abrade spherical surfacesthereon having radii between five ten-thousandths of an inch and twentythousandths of an inch dependent upon the length of the attack periodwhen the machine is driven.

5. The combination in an abrading machine for abrading the ends of smallbodies, a rotatable abrading member adapted to be rotated about a fixedaxis, said member having secured thereto a plurality of flexibleabrading vanes extending from said member in a general lateral directionfrom the direction of movement of said vanes and in radially spacedrelation, said vanes being mounted on said member in spaced relation,the distance between said vanes being such that they will not contacteach other during the abrading action, an axially rotatable holder forholding said bodies, a rocking support for said holder from which thesaid holder projects at right angles with the path of movement of saidvanes, driven means for oscillating said holder about its axis, in aplane substantially perpendicular to the flat surfaces of said vanes anda second driven means for oscillating the said rocking support,including driving means for driving said abrading member and said firstmentioned driving means and the said second driven means whereby the endsurfaces of said body held in said holder will be successively attackedby said vanes to abrade ellipsoidal surfaces thereon the dimensions ofsaid ellipsoidal surfaces dependent upon the length of the attack periodwhen the said machine is driven.

6. In an abrading machine for abrading the ends of small bodies, arotatable abrading member adapted to be rotated about a fixed axis, aplurality of abrading means secured in spaced relation to the saidmember along its axis, said abrading means comprising a plurality offlexible abrading vanes extending from said member in a general lateraldirection from the direction of movement of said vanes andin radialspaced relation, said vanes being mounted on said member in spacedrelation; the distance between said vanes being such that they will notcontact each other during the abrading, action, a rotatably mountedspindle carriage positioned adjacent to said member with its axis ofrotation parallel and at a fixed distance from the axis of the abradingmember, cam means for oscillating said carriage a predetermined numberof cycles about its axis, a plurality of rotatable spindles secured onsaid carriage parallel to each other and corresponding in number to thesaid abrading means, each said spindle having its axis of rotation atsubstantially right angles to the axis of said carriage, each saidspindle terminating at one end in a holder for said bodies, each saidholder facing corresponding abrading means and adapted to describe anare substantially at right angles to the flat surfaces of said vanes ofsaid abrading member when the said carriage is oscillated by the saidcam means, driven means for simultaneously driving, said cam means androtating said spindles, including means for simultaneously driving saidabrading member and said driven means whereby each said body held insaid holders will be rotated and oscillated a predetermined number oftimes in the path of the said vanes when the said machine is driven apredetermined period by the said driving means to abrade the ends ofsaid bodies to a predetermined size and shape.

7. The combination in an abrading machine for abrading the ends of smallbodies, a rotatable abrading member adapted to be rotated about a flxedaxis, said member having secured thereto a plurality of flexibleabrading vanes extending from said member in a general lateral directionfrom the direction of movement of said vanes and in radially spacedrelation, said vanes being mounted on said member in spaced relation,the distance between said vanes being such that they will not contacteach other during the abrading action, a plurality of axially rotatableholders for holding said bodies, a rocking support for said holders fromwhich the said holders project at right angles with respect to the axisof the rocking support and into the paths of movement of said vanes,driven lever means for oscillating a predetermined number of holdersabout their axes in a plane substantially perpendicular to the flatsurfaces of said vanes, driven gear means for rotating the remainingnumber of holders about their axes, including driving means for drivingsaid lever means and said gear means and said abrading means whereby theend surfaces of the said bodies held in the oscillating holders and theremaining number of bodies held in the rotating holders will besuccessively attacked by said vanes to abrade the ends of the bodiesheld in the oscillated holders to one form of spherical surface and theends of the bodies held in the rotating holders into a spherical surfaceof another form with the dimensions of both forms of said surfacesdependent upon the length of time the machine is driven.

HENRY LOUIS IMELMANN.

